This 1998 walk took us from Braemar through to Dalwhinnie.
This route gives an overwhelming impression of the vastness of the Cairngorm wilderness around the southern flanks of the High Cairngorms between Deeside and Speyside. It covers two glens which are widley different in character.
Glen Geldie is unique for its barreness, wide horizens and tundra-like bleakness. In poor weather it is a considerable undertaking, requiring stamina and good navigtion skills. Glen Feshie, is a superb canyon-shaped valley with wonderful river and woodland, mking it perhaps the most picturesque glen in the Cairngorms.
This route has long tempted the road builders. Surveyed in the 1720s by Wade, in 1828 by Mitchell more laterly by others. Fortunately the condition of the land, prohibitive costs and winter conditions at 560m prevented these plans being realised.
It is unlikely that the route can be compleated in a day but rather should be spread over a couple of days in order not to miss the great scenery. It is a fine backpacking route, with gentle ascents and good paths in the two glens. Unfortunatly the paths are less distinct and the ascents become a little more challenging.
The walk is best undertaken in an east-west direction as it allows you to enjoy Glen Feshie after decending from the bleak moors of Glen Geldie and further to cut the walk short by exiting early up Glen Feshie.
Starting at 21:00hrs on Friday at the Linn of Dee (GR 062897) at a hight of 373m. There is a nice level, well surfaced Land-Rover track heading West following the Northern bank of the river Dee pass the pine trees. This allowed us to progress at a very good pace. It was a cool evening and the sun was slowly setting towards the West of the Estate. We saw a large number of deer, just keep your eyes open as they are all around this area. Ahead there is a broad but gentle green valley.We passed 4-5 tents at White Bridge which is actually named after the Geldie (Geal Dheidh, White Dee). We continued on under a clear blue sky with a number of the brighter stars starting to shine through. On past Glen Dee as it gently bends round to the north, past The Devil's point towards the Lairig Ghru which we traversed on the 1997 Mid Summer Night's Walk. If you have time, take a wee detour to see the Chest of Dee which has some small waterfals and pools.
Passed a new section of forest on the right, at 23:00hrs we had reached the Geldie Burn and put up the tent behind Ruigh Ealasaid. With this walk covering two days and the weather conditions being less than ideal we compromised and took a tent rather than just bivy.
Rising at 08:00hrs we watched the mist creaping round the shoulders of of Meall Tionail and Buachaille Breige to the East of us. The sun was strong and the wind light and there was light cloud in the sky which made us eager the be on the move. All packed we followed the track on the Northern bank of the Geldie Burn.
With wide horizons the bleak moors of the glen really opens out before you and the vista was really enhanced by a lovely blue sky even though the cloud was building up. Past the Duke's Chair to the North and eventually turning off on to a well marked footpath, leaving the road to turn South. cross the Geldie Burn and head up to the Geldie Lodge and beyond to the base of An Sgarsoch which has a large summit plateau. This and Carn an Fhidhleir or Carn Ealar are two of the remotest Munros.
The footpath continued on the gentle but extensive flank of Cnapan Mor, crossed the watershead towards the River Feshie. The walking is easy and the path is a little less clear but lookput for the little sign sticking out of the ground which reads BRIDGE but fails to tell you where this bridge is located. If you get the opportunity study the sign support carefully and you should notice that it only loosely fits into the peat and has been battered so severly by the winds that it readily can be moved around.
Look over to the River Feshie which used to feed into the Geldie but now it swings around in a U shape causeing it flow back to the west and into Glen Feshie.
Just keep walking towards the River Eidart as there is only the one crossing place, as rather space age style tublar steel bridge. This is an ideal spot for a break as it is sheltered and you can enjoy the magnificent Eidart waterfall.
The path clings the the side of ever steeping sides of the glen, trees of birch and pine appear. The countryside softens as you leave the bleakness behind and enter a picturesque, sheltered canyon. This is a favourite area for the mountian bikers as the path are good and the scenery impressive. The obstical being a large landside which has to be negociated.
The path continue through the pinewoods but we want to cross the River Fechie and head South-East past Carn Dearg Mor. I waded across the river and waited for almost an hour for my collegue to make the crossing on a rather shaky bridge further down stream.
A steep climb up the Land-Rover track past Lochan an t-Sluic brings you to a forest and a footpath which follows the contour lines towards the West. The heavier cloud and the evening sun produced sinister lighting conditions which lit the vista of rather featurless hills around this basin.
Being a radio ham I thought that the phone had a good chance of working at the end of the Land-Rover track (GR 804896, 610M) and this proved to be the case therefore I reported our location back to the homestead.
We then followed the path downhill towards the south and flanking the forest as we headed for the Allt na Guilce burn. Although the map may show a footpath along the northern bank of the burn in reality it is rather lumpy going with just sheep tracks which can easily be lost if you are not paying attention.
By 21:30hrs we have reached the weir by Allt Bhran and gladly break for the night. Ah, this is better than a bivey.
08:00hrs we pack the damp tent, put on our damp boots and head out over the damp heather to find the path which will provide us with a short cut across the shoulder of Mullach Coire towards the river Tromie.
If you look at a map of the area you will spot a footbridge that crosses the river (GR 764891) with no apparent paths leading to or from it on either side. So it was with some trepidation that we searched for this unconnected footbridge. Surprisingly to our great relief we located it and found it to be in good repair but were at a complete loss to determine the reason for its existance.
As there was no path we climbed up Druim an t-Seilich, heading west to the Allt na Fearna. It was very slow, heavy and damp going up this valley to finally have lunch at 13:00hrs, sitting inthe sun at Coire Chuaich but what a wonderful location from which to exhaustedly contemplate the surounding hillsides.
The alternative route would have been to follow the path passed the Loch an t-Seilich and Gaick Lodge, climbing Sgor Dearg, across the saddle and down the other side to Coire Chuaich. My companion argued that the climb of 1000 feet followed by an 800 foot decent would have been more ardious that the 1km/hr that we had achieved.
Now an easy stroll along fine even Land-Rover tracks which eventually brought us into Dalwhinnie where we enjoyed a througherly unhealthy fry-up as we waited for the train to take us back to the Forth valley.
Upon reflection, over a mug of tea - We felt that we had been extremely luck with the weather and although cold it had stayed dry and allowed us to progress at a good rate. But more importantly the visibility had been good and we were able to fully appreciate the changing countryside in a more remote area of the Grampians. Well this was the leg of the walk that I'd wanted to do but the leg of the walk that David had been interested in actually starts from here - how about it for next years mid-summers night walk?
Author: Colin Auld
Remember - leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photographs.